As far as the three US legacy carriers go, it is almost always cheaper to use American Airlines miles to fly one of its awesome partners’ First Classes than it is to use United miles to fly one of its partners’ First Classes. You can’t even use Delta to miles to book a three-cabin First Class.

Luxurious First Class Options to Book with American Airlines Miles

I’ll give the miles price of a one way award because American Airlines allows one way bookings (we’ll cover that later), and I’ll give the price after a 10% rebate in parentheses. That’s because the American Airlines personal card offers 10% of the miles back on all American Airlines redemptions up to 100,000 miles redeemed per calendar year.

American Airlines miles used to be the cheapest way to book JAL First Class. Now they are the second cheapest, next to Alaska miles. That being said, it’s easier to get a lot of American Airlines miles quickly right now than it is to get a lot of Alaska miles quickly.

If you have Alaska miles, you can book First Class to China, Hong Kong, or Southeast Asia in Cathay Pacific First Class for only 70,000 miles one way, so keep that in mind. Same logic applies to this example as does the last–t’s easier to get a lot of American Airlines miles quickly right now than it is to get a lot of Alaska miles quickly.

6. British Airways First Class for 80,000 (72,000) miles

British Airways First Class on the A380 from London to South Africa is 80,000 miles. It is a partially enclosed seat that turns into a fully flat bed.

There are fuel surcharges when you use American Airlines miles to book British Airways–the only fuel surcharges for any bookings in this post–but if the schedule is convenient, they may be worth paying. British Airways First Class is moderately available between the United States and Europe and between London and the rest of the world.

Bottom Line

For a limited time, the Citi /AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard is offering 50,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $3,000 in the first three months. The CitiBusiness / AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard is offering the same bonus. The Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard is offering 40k bonus American Airlines miles after just one purchase and paying the annual fee of $95.

By meeting the $6,000 total spending requirement + putting one purchase on the Barclaycard and paying its $95 annual fee, you’ll earn at least 146,000 American Airlines miles. If you decide to open all three cards, open the Barclaycard first, then either Citi card, and then wait eight days to apply for the second Citi card. For example, on day 1 you apply for the Barclaycard and then immediately following, the personal Citi card. On day 9 you apply for the CitiBusiness card.

With 146k American Airlines miles, you could book any of the examples listed in this post, and some of them you could book roundtrip.

Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.

The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.

[…] Earn 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®. Plus get American Airlines Admirals Club membership for super-cheap economy awards and ultra-luxury First Class awards. […]

[…] Earn 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®. Plus get American Airlines Admirals Club membership for super-cheap economy awards and ultra-luxury First Class awards. […]

[…] Earn 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®. Plus get American Airlines Admirals Club membership for super-cheap economy awards and ultra-luxury First Class awards. […]

[…] Earn 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®. Plus get American Airlines Admirals Club membership for super-cheap economy awards and ultra-luxury First Class awards. […]

[…] Earn 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®. Plus get American Airlines Admirals Club membership for super-cheap economy awards and ultra-luxury First Class awards. […]

[…] Earn 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®. Plus get American Airlines Admirals Club membership for super-cheap economy awards and ultra-luxury First Class awards. […]

[…] Earn 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®. Plus get American Airlines Admirals Club membership for super-cheap economy awards and ultra-luxury First Class awards. […]

[…] Earn 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®. Plus get American Airlines Admirals Club membership for super-cheap economy awards and ultra-luxury First Class awards. […]

[…] Earn 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard®. Plus get American Airlines Admirals Club membership for super-cheap economy awards and ultra-luxury First Class awards. […]

[…] Possible high value uses are off peak international awards like 20,000 miles one way to Europe and partner First Class awards like Cathay Pacific First Class to Southeast Asia for 67,500 miles. […]

looking to redeem aa mile to fly cathay pacific first class from the US to Hong Kong and back. for the life of me, and i have been spending tons of hours on BA website, i cannot find any first class for march or april.

any suggestions on what i can do? or if my plans are too unrealistic.

one friend suggested to me that i should settle for business class seats. is that a good strategy?

i flew cathay first class once and it is truly a great experience. i was hoping i could fly one more time before the devaluation eats my miles……

Thank you for the posting. I am trying to fly Etihad First Class between Abu Dhabi, UAE (AUH) to Sydney (SYD) or Melbourne (MEL) in November 2016. I followed the posting instructions in how to search space in Etihad and I found 2 first class (GuestFIrst) GuestSeats online. The problem is that when I called American Airlines to book the seats, the AA agent advised me that they only have coach seats.

Just seeing if other people are having similar problems booking Etihad first class seats so far in to the future with AA.

[…] Possible high value uses are off peak international awards like 20,000 miles one way to Europe and partner First Class awards like Cathay Pacific First Class to Southeast Asia for 67,500 miles. […]

Hi,
Thank you for the wonderful website. I followed your advice to book my award flights on BA website. I am trying to use my AA miles for Cathay Pacific flights from Newark to TPE for 2 pp. I only have 180,000 miles now, so I don’t have enough for 2 round-trip business awards. I am thinking to fly there using economy class and come back using business. I checked BA website and it says there are 4 business seats available for return from TPE to Newark in August. But when I called AA quite a few times, they keep telling me only one seat available. Why is it? Should I book one business and one economy for our return flight and wait for the departure time to upgrade another seat? But, I wonder whether AA will have more award seats be released closer to departure in August? I can only hold my current economy class for a few days. But, the award program will be changed starting 3/22/16. I appreciate any advice you can give. Thank you very much.

Thanks for your prompt reply. 🙂 Yes, I tried to search many different times and called a few times yesterday and today. It was the same. Today I found another date in early August, same 4 busisness seats listed on BA, but when I called, AA says only 1 available. I don’t know what’s going on. So, I thought I would do something different. I did another search for 2 passengers on the same date, instead of the recommended search (1 passenger), then it showed no availability for 2 pp on BA website. Finally, I switched back to the one Passenger search and 4 seats shown available. Maybe BA is not accurate? Should I book 1 business first and wait for another to come up closer to departure? Or is it just wishful thinking? Is it even possible? Thanks very much for all your advice.

EDITOR PICKS

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Editorial Disclosure

Content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers. These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered. For more information or to see the MileValue Privacy Policy, click here.

Sarah Page Maxwell is a miles aficionado and avid traveler, born in Virginia, raised in North Carolina, and currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has earned and redeemed millions of miles for herself and others. Traveling for free, the 29-year-old has been to 20+ countries, making sure to catch as many sunsets in each that she can.

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MileValue is the only miles-and-points blog that thinks systematically about the value of your miles and how to maximize that value!

Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which MileValue.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts placement of cards on the credit card page and banner placement, but does not on the articles posted on MileValue.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace.

Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which MileValue.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts placement of cards on the credit card page and banner placement, but does not on the articles posted on MileValue.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace.